Twenty-nine new single family homes would be near 75, 635 and the DART station.

Residents of Northwood Estates, Stults Road and Hamilton Park made it clear in 2021 they didn’t want to see a Parkland charity clinic replace the aging Greater Cornerstone Baptist Church in their neighborhood. Their community activism was effective, and the county quickly withdrew its proposal.

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As county officials began to regroup, they utilized a survey conducted by neighbors to learn community preferences for the property. Construction of a restaurant or school earned less than 20% of the vote. A church or senior citizen center got less than 40%. Instead, almost two-thirds of respondents wanted single family homes.

Dallas County Commissioner Andrew Sommerman is proposing workforce housing with a twist — 29 detached single family homes for teachers, nurses and other hard-working folks in jobs critical to the community. Three tracts on seven acres at Forest Lane and Stults Road would be purchased by the county using $6.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) funds, sent from federal to local governments to address impacts of the pandemic, and an additional $8.5 million would be spent to construct homes of 1,400 to 2,000 square feet. Discounted sales prices of about $300,000 to $500,000 at the new Cottonwood Forest would benefit first-time buyers, who could realize their equity with a market sale after seven years.

“This is not poverty housing. It is not low-income housing,” Sommerman explained at a community meeting Monday night. “This is workforce housing — people who have specific types of jobs that are having difficulty finding homes to live in because the price of real estate is so high in the Dallas area that we need to provide better opportunities for individuals to be able to live in single family homes.”

Contracts with buyers would include anti-flip, anti-rent and anti-short-term-rental provisions, ensuring that all residents would remain the screened and intended owners. Qualified buyers would be families with an annual income of 60-120% of area median income (AMI). An initial plan, which included 40 homes, was pared down to 29 to permit less density and make room for a park. A winding trail was added through the neighborhood. Children would attend Stults Road Elementary.

At the end of the evening, Sommerman called for a straw vote, which closely mirrored the initial poll. Two-thirds of respondents at the meeting favored the proposal. Some were opposed, expressing concern about unceasing crime surrounding the DART station, homeless encampments on the Cottonwood Trail, threats to nearby property values, increasing traffic and other issues.

“[Stults Road] is narrow as it is,” said neighbor Mike Nelson, “and you’ve got Texas Instruments nearby. If you put in 29 more houses, can you imagine the traffic coming out?”

Chris Ronderos said he welcomed the plan to give first-time homebuyers a chance to live in his neighborhood.

“When there’s trash in my yard, I pick it up because I own my home, which is what this would be,” he said. “Folks who work in these sorts of industries can’t afford to live anywhere in town. This is giving them a place to live where people with those jobs have always lived.”

Veteran broker Jerry Averyt has been working since 2016 to sell the property — which was damaged by the 2019 tornado and by a subsequent fire.

“This is a tough, tough piece of property to develop because of the flood plain in the back,” he explained. “For private developers to make this work is really challenging. That’s why it’s taken so long. This layout is the best plan I’ve seen. With the cost of the land being what it is, the housing prices would have to be high. I don’t think it would work [without partnership by the county].”

James Armstrong is president and CEO of Builders of Hope, which develops similar projects across Dallas. Workforce housing in the city has become nonexistent, he stressed, which threatens the American dream — young families buying houses at affordable rates and watching their homes grow in value.

“I’m a firm believer in neighborhood self-determination. You know what you want in your neighborhood,” he said. “I believe you can do this right, and it will bring value to this community.”

Sommerman indicated he plans to close on the land in late April. A builder will be selected soon after.

This post has been edited for clarity.

The new homes at Cottonwood Forest would be at the southwest corner of Forest Lane and Stults Road.